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Message:: [QUOTE="Bronwen, post: 289283, member: 5833"]This issue of nomenclature & categorization plagues my world too.  There is no consistency of terminology: one person's sardonyx in another one's banded agate & a third one's chalcedony.  To add to the confusion, we have the habit of referring to chalcedony that has been dyed black as 'onyx'.  This word comes from the Greek for 'fingernail' & originally applied to the white layer over the dark background of a cameo.  When the white is pared down to a breath, it becomes semi-transparent & allows some of the underlying color to show through, like a fingernail.  When the ground layer is dark brown chalcedony, sard, the stone is sardonyx.  This cameo is sardonyx; the dangles are banded agate, & they are both the very same stone. [ATTACH=full]93470[/ATTACH] It is more precise to call the other stuff 'black onyx'.  At the end of the day, it is all quartz. [/QUOTE]